Henning (John) is born in New York City.

The son of Walter and Mary (Riley) Henning, John Henning grows up in New York City, comes to Boston in 1964 to work as a reporter for WNAC Channel 7, and becomes news anchor there in 1966. He marries Besty Cohen, lives in Boston, moves to WHDH Channel 5 in 1968, goes back to WHDH Channel 7 in 1979, then to WBZ Channel 4 in 1982. Known for his no-nonsense style, Henning once explains, “Some people think I’m boring, that I don’t smile enough. But my philosophy is that anything that takes away from the job of presenting the news, that is distractive to the viewer, is bad.” He retires in 2003, and dies in Boston on July 7, 2010.